Signaling the Genoese Tartan
Signaling the Genoese Tartan Surveying the calm from Tiboulen, Dantès reasons through his plight: the turnkey will discover Faria’s body, the alarm will be raised, the tunnel uncovered, and soldiers will pursue him by both land and sea, with cannon warning every port to refuse him shelter. Almost despairing, he spots a small lateen-rigged vessel—recognizable as a Genoese tartan—emerging from Marseilles and standing out to sea. Though he fears that smugglers would rather sell him than help him, hunger and exhaustion drive him to act. Noticing a red sailor’s cap snagged on a rock and timbers from the wrecked fishing boat floating nearby, he fashions a disguise and a float, then strikes out to intercept the tartan’s course, certain that his identity as a survivor of the wreck will be believed.
Rescue by the Tartan Crew
Rescue by the Tartan Crew Dantès watches the tartan tacking between the Château d’If and the tower of Planier and fears she may stand out to sea, but he correctly predicts she will pass between Jaros and Calaseraigne. On each tack he waves his cap and shouts a sailor’s cry; at first he is ignored, but finally he is both seen and heard, and the crew lowers a boat. By the time it reaches him, he has overestimated his strength—the timber had been supporting him all along. His arms stiffen, his legs fail, and he begins to sink. A sailor seizes him by the hair just as consciousness leaves him. Revived on deck with rum and friction, Dantès gives his name and past as a Maltese sailor shipwrecked off Cape Morgiou, conceals his features behind the explanation of a vow, and demonstrates his seamanship by taking the helm and guiding the tartan safely past the Island of Rion—convincing the crew to keep him aboard on the way to Leghorn.
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